Iran-Israel latest: Trump lashes out at leaked intel saying strikes failed to destroy Tehran’s nuclear sites – UK Times

President Donald Trump has lashed out at American media over the leaked intelligence report that suggested the US airstrikes did not destroy the nuclear program in Iran.

“FAKE NEWS CNN, TOGETHER WITH THE FAILING NEW YORK TIMES, HAVE TEAMED UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY,” the US president ranted on Truth Social.

“THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED! BOTH THE TIMES AND CNN ARE GETTING SLAMMED BY THE PUBLIC,” Mr Trump claimed.

Citing four people briefed on the initial assessment produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), CNN reports that the strikes likely only set Iran’s nuclear ambitions back by months.

The DIA, the Pentagon’s intelligence agency, based its assessment on battle damage analysis carried out by US Central Command after the strikes on Saturday night, according to one source who spoke with CNN.

The sky over Israel and Iran fell silent on Tuesday night as the fragile ceasefire between the two nations appeared to hold after initially faltering.

But even as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Israel had brought Iran’s nuclear program “to ruin”, a new US intelligence report found that the program has been set back only a few months following American airstrikes.

After the truce was supposed to take effect yesterday, Israel accused Iran of launching missiles into its airspace, and the Israeli finance minister vowed that “Tehran will tremble”.

The Iranian military denied firing on Israel, state media reported, but explosions boomed and sirens sounded across northern Israel in the morning.

Mr Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for a Nato summit that, in his view, both sides had violated the nascent agreement.

He had particularly strong words for Israel, a close ally, while suggesting Iran may have fired on the country by mistake.

Iran will not abandon its nuclear technology despite the recent US and Israeli strikes, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said.

“We have made tremendous efforts to achieve this technology, and our scientists have made enormous sacrifices, even losing their lives for this goal,” Mr Araghchi told New Arab website.

“Our people have endured sanctions for this, and a war was imposed on our nation over this issue. No one in Iran will abandon this technology.”

“I imagine that our outlook on the nuclear program and the non-proliferation regime will undergo changes, though I cannot yet determine their direction,” he said, when asked whether Iran would reconsider its stance toward the UN’s nuclear watchdog.

Iran has executed three men for allegedly spying for Israel’s intelligence unit Mossad, according to the Iranian judiciary’s news agency, Mizan.

Since Israel’s 13 June attack on Iran, Tehran has reportedly executed multiple people suspected of spying for Tel Aviv.

Vice President JD Vance visited his home state of Ohio Tuesday evening, making a keynote speech at the Ohio Republican Party Dinner in Lima.

During his remarks, Vance celebrated the U.S. striking three of Iran’s nuclear sites over the weekend, which was the culmination of a conflict between Israel, America’s biggest ally in the Middle East, and Iran over its advancing pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Vance recalled what the president told him in the Situation Room a few days ago.

“Mr. Vice President, you don’t have to call him the supreme leader, but you would if the guy had a nuclear weapon,” Vance recalled Trump telling him of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Vance continued in his own words: “Because the leverage that nuclear weapons give you to destabilize the world, to destroy our economic interests, to destroy our national security interests — you don’t want the worst people in the world to have a nuclear weapon.”

There has been some division among Trump’s Make America Great Again base, as some have criticized the president for getting involved in a foreign conflict.

In response to these critiques, Vance explained Trump’s thinking in what he calls the “Trump Doctrine.”

“Number one, you articulate a clear American interest, and that’s, in this case, that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon. Number two, you try to aggressively, diplomatically, solve that problem. And number three, when you can’t solve it diplomatically, you use overwhelming military power to solve it and then you get the hell out of there before it ever becomes a protracted conflict,” he said.

A new CNN poll reveals that a majority of Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The survey from CNN and SSRS of 1,030 adults in the US between June 22 and June 23 was conducted on the two days after Trump authorized Operation Midnight Hammer wherein U.S. forces dropped bunker-buster bombs on Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordow near Qom and also bombed facilities in Natanz and Isfahan.

The findings showed 56 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s decision to take military action against Iran.

US military strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities over the weekend did not destroy the country’s nuclear program, early intelligence suggests, contrary to claims by President Donald Trump, a report states.

Citing four people briefed on the initial assessment produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, CNN reports that the strikes likely only set Iran’s nuclear ambitions back by months.

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